Wire-straightening fixture



April 1952 s. G. BLUMENSAADT WIRE STRAIGHTENING FIXTURE Original FiledSept. 2, 1947 2 SHEETS-SHEET l r INVENITOR. SVEND' c1. BLUMENSAADT BY wm A iril 1; 1952 s. G. BLUMENSAADT 2,591,123

WIRE STRAIGHTENING FIXTURE 2 SI-IEETS--SHEET 2 Original Filed Septr 2,1947 JNVENTOR. SVENO 6 BLUMENSHADT Patented Apr. 1, 1952 WIRE-.-STRAIGHTENING FIXTURE Svend G. Blumensaadt, Beachwood Village, Ohio,

assignor to The Universal Wire Spring Company, Cleveland, Ohio, acorporation of Ohio Original application. Septemberv 2, 1947, Serial No.

771,592. Divided and this-application December 22, 1947, Serial No.793,271

3 Claims. 1 This is a divisional application of my co-pending.application SerialNo. 771,592, filed September 1947, for Method'andApparatus for Making WireSprings from Sinuous Wire Strips and thisinvention relates in general to wire straightening "fixturesand more"particularly to specific wire straightening fixtures designed tostraighten the endsofjsinuouslycorrugated wire spring members'priorto'reshaping these-ends to attachment means.

:The primary "object ofthe invention is the provision of a Wirestraightening fixture for straightening the curved end portions ofsinuously corrugated wire spring members, the fixture embodyingshiftable locating and holding means for locating andholding a" wirespring member in proper position; and shiftable straightening mean forstraightening one of the curved. end portions of such wire spring memberto extend laterally from the wire spring member.

"Another object of the invention is the provision ofa wire straighteningfixturefor straightening the curved end portions of sinuously corrugatedwire spring members, the fixture embodying shiftable locating andholding means for locating and holding a wire spring member in properposition, and shiftable straightening means rectangularly related to thelocating and holding means for straighteningcne of the curved endportions of #such wire spring member to extend .laterally from the wirespring member.

A further object of the invention is the provision of a wirestraightening fixture for straight- .ening the curved end portions ofsinuously corrugatedwire spring members, the fixture embodying shiftablelocating and holding means and pivotally :supportedyshiftablestraightening means shiftable .in substantiallyrectangular relation tothe longi- ."tudinal *axisof the wire spring member, the straighteningmeans effecting straightening by .wipingaction on the wireof a curvedend por- ,tion of "a wire spring member'and controlling angularrelationship of the straightenedwire to .the'axis. of the wiremember bypredetermined rotatable. movement of the wire straightening means onitspivotal support.

Additional objects and novel features of construction, combinations andrelations of .parts by which the objects in view, have been attained,will -=appear and are set forth indctail in: the course of the followingspecification.

The drawings accompanying and forming part of the specificationillustrate a certain practical embodiment of the invention, but it willbe apparent as the specification proceeds that the '2 structure may bemodified and changed in various .ways without departure from the truespirit and broadlscope of the invention.

.Inthe drawings:

,.Fig..1.is a fragmentary plan view of a sinuously corrugated Wirespring member having a. curved end portion.

.Fig..2.is aview similar to Fig. 1 with the curved ..end..portion of thewire spring member straightl0 oped to extend laterally from the wirespring member.

- Fig. 3 is a plan view of awire straightening .fixtureconstructed .inaccordance with the invention.

.Fig. 4.is.a front View of the wire straightening .l fixture shown inFig; 3.

, of a screw bolt 2|.

.liig. 5 is across-sectional view through Fig. 4,

the section beingtaken on line 5-5 of said figure.

.fixture shown in Fig. 3.

-- Referring now more, in detail to the exemplified mform. of theinvention shown in the drawings, the. wire straightening fixture 2disclosedv therein canddesigned to be attached to and operatedkby apunch press, not shown, embodies a housing 3,

with two lower housing members 4 and 5 and an .upper' housing memberfi,lower housing mem- ..bers.. l and. 5 being mounted on a baseplate 'lwhich-as shown, may be secured to. the bed plate .8.of a punch presstbyscrew membersie and .upperhousing member .6 is attached tolower housingmember 5 by setscrews I0. Thehousing '3 has journaled in bushings H ashaft 12 which supports two spur gears 14 and I5 meshing with rack bars16 and I1, respectively, spur, gear l4 .meshing with the horizontallyarranged rack bar IS and spur gear l5 meshing with the verticallyarranged rack bar ll. The horizontally arranged rack bar it is slidablymounted in housing 3 and held in proper working position by an anglebracket I8 anda. plate [9.

The horizontallyarranged rack bar 16 supports a forming block 20 whichis pivotally secured to said rack'by means This forming block mounts aroller 22. and when shifted with rackbar IS in the direction of arrow 23has such roller cooperating with a cam member 24 to control thepivotalmovement of the. forming block. The roller'22 is yieldingly forced into.contact with the cam. surface of the cam member 24 by a torsionspring 25which is mounted on the upper part of the screw bolt 2|. When shifted,forming block 20 slidably engages the looped end 26 of a sinuouslycorrugated wire 21 and straightens the wire of the looped end with awiping action while simultaneously forcing such wire into engagementwith the cam surface of a stationary block 28.

To properly locate a sinuously corrugatd member and hold same duringwire straightening operations, fixture 2 embodies two vertically,shiftably supported locators 29 and 39 and a stationary locator 3|.Locator 29 embodies a plunger 32 with a cone-shaped, circular lowerportion 33, which plunger is vertically, shiftably mounted in the upperhousing member 6. The plunger 32 is forced upwardly by a compressionspring 34 and shifted downwardly by a lever 35 mounted on a shaft 36which is journaled in upper housing member 6. This shaft mounts a gear31 which meshes a gear 38 on a shaft 39 journaled in upper housing 6 andthis latter shaft is oscillated by a cam mechanism 40 embodying a lever4| which supports a follower 42. The follower cooperates with a cam 43on a third shaft 44 journaled in housing 60 and rotated by a secondvertically arranged rack bar 45. Thus shaft 44 mounts a gear '46 meshingwith the rack bar 45 so that vertical, shifting of this rack bar effectsrotation of shaft 44 and cam 43, oscillation of shaft 39 by cammechanism 40 and vertical shifting of plunger 32 by lever 35, thecompression spring 34 effecting continuous working contact -betweenfollower 42 and cam 43 of the cam of the corrugated wire with locator 30and for such purpose is slotted at 59 to permit locator 39 to properlyhold the Wire of the loop when engaging locator 3|.

.The thus described wire straightening fixture when mounted foractuation on a punch press has its base plate 1 secured to the bed plate8 of such punch press by the set screws 9 and has its verticallyshiftable rack bars I! and 45 attached to the ram by means of a platesecured to the ram and adjustably connected to vertical rack bars H and'45 by means of stud bolts, 52, 53. Actuation of the punch press causesdownward shifting of the rack bars I1 and 45.which successively effectlocating and holding of a sinuously corrugated wire member by locators29, 30

.and 3| and thereafter straightening of the end loop of such wire memberby wiping action of the forming block shifted together with thehorizontal rack bar l6 and pivotally guided by the cam surface of cammember 24. After wire straightening operations, the wire spring memberis released by a spring-pressed ejector plate 54 vertically, shiftablysupported on pins 55 encircled by compression springs 56 which restagainst ejector plate 54 and are seated in recesses 51 in lower housingmember 5.

"Having thus described my invention, what I claim is:

This stationary locator is positioned to align the respective loop 1. Awire straightening fixture for straightening the loop of a corrugatedwire strip comprising a frame including a supporting surface, verticallyshiftable and stationary locating and holding members including locatorsarranged to be shifted at a right angle to said supporting surface andadapted to axially locate and'rigidly hold looped portions of asinuously corrugated wire strip supported in a fiat position on saidsupporting surface, a slide on said frame arranged to be shiftedparallel to the supporting surface at a right angle to the longitudinalaxis of a corrugated wire strip located on said surface by said locatingand holding members, a stationary wire forming block, a second wireforming block pivotally supported by said slide to swing in the plane ofsuch corrugated wire strip, stationary cam means on said frame adaptedto pivotally shift the pivotally supported forming block and effect incooperation with the stationary wire forming block by wiping actionstraightening of the end loop of such corrugated wire strip in its planewhen the slide is shifted at a right angle toward the corrugated wirestrip, and actuating means coupling said stationary locating and holdingmembers with said slide including cam means for successive actuation ofsaid shiftable locating and holding members and said slide.

2. A Wire straightening fixture as described in claim 1, wherein saidactuating means include means for shifting said locating and holdingmeans, a cam arrangement controlling the operation of said shiftingmeans, a second means for shifting said slide, and a single rotary meanscoupled with both said cam arrangement and said second shifting meansfor effecting successive operation of said locating and holding meansand said slide.

3. A wire straightening fixture as described in claim 1, wherein theslide supporting the forming block includes a rack bar forming part ofsaid actuating means for joint operation of said vertically shiftablelocating and holding means and said shiftable wire straightening formingblock.

' SVEND G. BLUMENSAADT.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date Re. 23,169 Horton Nov. 22, 194991,592 Ayers June 22, 1869 468,301 Cooper Feb. 2, 1892 659,111 SaperOct. 2, 1900 4,313,380 Henggi Aug. 19, 1919 1,552,416 Bigham Sept. 8,1925 1,583,321 Smith May 4, 1926 1,718,753 Miller June 25, 19292,044,322 Oliver June 16, 1936 2,389,055 Horton Nov. 13, 1945 2,436,642Greenwood Feb. 24, 1948 2,485,096 Hoff Oct. 18, 1949 FOREIGN PATENTSNumber Country Date 226,328 Germany Sept. 29, 1910 234,343

Great Britain May 28, 1925

